Hiring professional studio musicians to play on your record is a great way to elevate your music and bring new ideas to life. Chicago is a world class music city and is home to amazing musicians of every genre.
At Narwhal we pride ourselves on having worked with a large and diverse group of musicians and knowing who is right for a particular record.
Here are some things we’ve learned about hiring studio musicians:
The best studio musicians are collaborative and they enhance your music with their creativity. Sometimes they are well known players and sometimes they are not.
Communicating what’s important for the song and what you are looking for is crucial.
A well made chart is much appreciated! The more information, the better, but at the very least have the song structure outlined with the changes and notate important rhythmic figures, dynamics and useful lyrics.
Rates: most experienced musicians start around $200/song or $500/day for a reasonable number of hours or songs.
Session-work can be done in person or remotely: we can include you in the session via Zoom or through remote listening tools like ListenTo if you can’t be there in person.
